Confirming our report from April, Nokia announced that Path will be coming to Windows Phone later this year at its Lumia 1020 announcement in New York last night. Additionally, Nokia also revealed that other major applications will debut on the Windows Phone platform within the next several months, providing a much needed cushion for consumers already on Microsoft’s mobile platform and also for those considering to pick it up.
Aside from the on-stage announcement, Path elaborated further on the company blog about its arrival on Windows Phone. Path CEO Dave Morin had been saying for a quite some time that the company is considering to build a Windows Phone application and last night’s announcement provided the confirmation.
“This is a platform that we are especially excited to build on because it has been one of the most requested platforms by our users from all corners of the globe”, the company said on its blog post.
There is no specific release date but the company asked to stay tuned. A Path spokesperson said in an interview with Nokianesia that at this stage “it is scoped that Path will be to support all fleet of devices”, but there will be “certain higher end features that will only work on higher end devices”.
“Our intent is to be integrated into core feature; people hub, live tiles, the lock screen, and the camera. All these things we are very focused on. The people hub is still on prototype but our intention is to be there”, Morin said in the same interview.
“Indonesia is one of our biggest countries. I would say Indonesian users are probably our most passionate… and last year it was our number one. Indonesia was our number one in the first couple of years of our developing. It was only just this year that the United States come online”, Morin continued.
Oggl Pro, Vine, and Flipboard
Another camera-oriented app that was announced was Hipstamatic’s Oggl Pro, an advanced version of the Oggl app that was announced for the Lumia 925 and 928 back in May. Oggl is Hipstamatic’s photo sharing app and community that was created to showcase photos created using Hipstamatic’s extensive film and lens simulator.
Hipstamatic’s availability provides Lumia owners with an official access to Instagram even as Instagram refuses to make a Windows Phone app available, thanks to the deal made between Instagram and Hipstamatic right before Facebook bought the company. Alternatively, there is an unofficial Instagram app called Instance which allows Windows Phone owners to use Instagram.
One big news for Windows Phone which was not announced on stage but mentioned in Nokia’s press release is that Vine will be coming to the platform soon. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the news to The Verge. Twitter seems eager to have its short form video app available in the top mobile platforms as soon as possible especially since Instagram now has added short form video to its repertoire.
Nokia’s new software development kit which pertains to the Lumia 1020 contains many new abilities and features especially with regards to the camera functions. It gives apps, for example, 50 filters to use from in addition to their own. This allows camera-oriented applications such as Path and Hipstamatic to have a much richer experience when deployed on Nokia’s new 41 megapixel Windows Phone 8 camera.
Aside from the third party camera apps, another big name app that was announced at Nokia’s event was Flipboard. The newsreading app has been one of the most popular applications on iOS and Android and its arrival to Windows Phone has been long awaited. With its novel approach to displaying articles, the app actually would fit right at home on Windows Phone.
Yahoo is Missing
Despite Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s choice to include the Lumia 920 among the list of company-subsidized phones Yahoo employees can choose from, there was no sign of Yahoo anywhere at Nokia’s event. Windows Phone had been one platform that Yahoo has yet to embrace since the major relaunch last year. The Sunnyvale-based company has a Mail app for Windows 8 but that’s about the extent of the company’s foray into the current Windows environment.
The Flickr app for Windows Phone hasn’t been updated since March 2012 and remains a Windows Phone 7 app which means it cannot take advantage of the new features of Windows Phone 8. The Lumia 920, 925, 928 and 1020 are more known for their advanced cameras than being a premium smartphone and it would be a shame if Flickr does not upgrade the app to take advantage of Nokia’s new imaging SDK.
Good news for software developers
For people considering to pick up a Windows Phone, announcement of these apps serves to soften concerns about the lack of applications available on the platform. As we at DailySocial often say, people aren’t really thinking about the number of apps available on a particular platform so much as whether they can use the apps that they want. It’s not how many apps, it’s which apps.
At the launch of Windows Phone 8 last year, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made it a point to say that nearly all of the top 50 apps on any mobile platform was already available on Windows Phone. With the addition of Flipboard, Hipstamatic Oggle Pro, Vine, Path, along with other apps that take advantage of Nokia’s new imaging SDK, there are more reasons for people to consider picking up a Windows Phone.
More importantly, because these apps help people make a decision on whether they should pick up a Windows Phone, software developers who are leaning towards the platform will also be more encouraged to create apps for it. Developers who have already been making Windows Phone apps will be in great position to take further advantage of the continuing rise in the uptake of the platform which at this point has taken over from BlackBerry as the third most popular smartphone operating system in the world.
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